October 9-11, 2009
Dallas Convention Center
Dallas, TX

Strengthen Your Litigation Skills in This Hands-On, Educational Format

Now more than ever immigration lawyers need to be equipped to litigate issues on behalf of their clients. This Institute will enable both neophytes and experienced practitioners to acquire new skills, to practice their technique, and to become confident and knowledgeable about litigation in immigration court and in the federal courts.

This is not a "talking-heads" program but a hands-on, practical training institute. As a participant, you will:

• Work with experienced faculty and colleagues in very small groups
• Learn the rules of the road by "doing" not just by hearing
• Participate in four mock hearings
• Be videotaped and critiqued by experienced practitioners and peers
• Build a network of colleagues, friends, and mentors
• Discuss your actual cases and issues for potential litigation

Each participant will be assigned to a small group of no more than six members.

• Enrollment in this institute is limited to the first 60 individuals who receive confirmation that their application has been approved. We strongly urge you not to purchase plane or hotel reservations until you receive written confirmation that your application has been approved.
• Segments include: administrative (IJ) hearings; habeas corpus petitions; mandamus actions; and petitions for review.
• Different faculty will work with each group for different segments, so participants will be working with a variety of faculty throughout the program.
• All attendees will receive their materials approximately 3 weeks before the Institute. Several hours of preparation prior to the weekend will be required for participation at the Institute. Specifically, at the Institute, you will be acting as the lawyer in several mock hearings based on a set of mock materials that we will send you ahead of time. You will be conducting a direct examination of your "client." You also will be presenting several oral arguments. You will be videotaped for viewing on your own time. The faculty will evaluate your presentations.

Note: If you will not be able to prepare ahead of time, please do not apply for the Institute.

Dallas Convention Center
650 S. Griffin Street
Dallas, TX 75202

Friday
5:15 pm - 6:00 pm Registration; light dinner (provided)
6:00 pm - 6:30 pm Introductions
6:30 pm - 7:20 pm Litigation Nuts & Bolts
7:30 pm - 9:00 pm First Small Group Session: Witness Examination Exercise

Saturday

8:00 am - 8:45 am Continental breakfast; networking, Q and A
9:00 am - 11:00 am Second Small Group Session: Immigration Court, Habeas, or Mandamus
11:15 am - 1:15 pm Third Small Group Session: Immigration Court, Habeas, or Mandamus
1:15 pm - 2:45 pm Lunch; litigation strategy discussion
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm Fourth Small Group Session: Immigration Court, Habeas, or Mandamus

Sunday
8:00 am - 9:00 am Continental breakfast; networking, Q and A
9:15 am - 11:15 am Fifth Small Group Session: Petition for Review
11:15 am - 12:00 pm Q & A with the Experts and Evaluations

These seasoned litigators will lend their expertise to the 2009 Litigation Institute.

Maria Andrade specializes in removal defense, family immigration and employer sanctions in her private practice in Boise, Idaho. Active in national immigration and low-wage worker issues, Ms. Andrade serves on the AILA amicus committee, the advisory board of AILF’s Legal Action Center, the board of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild and the Northwest Worker Justice Project. Ms. Andrade is a frequent speaker at immigration, criminal defense and business conferences throughout the country. She obtained her J.D. at Notre Dame Law School and B.A. at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

Andres Benach is a partner in the employment and immigration practice at Duane Morris, where he concentrates his practice on complex litigation matters involving removability, inadmissibility, citizenship and the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. He has over 10 years of experience in immigration law, handling sensitive and challenging naturalization, asylum, adjustment of status, removal, and waiver cases. Mr. Benach is a graduate of George Washington University Law School and a graduate of Boston College.

Denise Gilman is a professor at the University of Texas School of Law where she teaches the immigration clinic. She has an LL.M from Georgetown University Law Center, a J.D. from Columbia University Law School and a B.A. with honors in political science from Northwestern University.

Ilana Etkin Greenstein practices immigration law with Kaplan, O’Sullivan & Friedman, LLP in Boston, with a focus on removal defense and appellate litigation. She is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and in the First, Second, and Eleventh Circuits. Ms. Greenstein has served as faculty in numerous AILA, AILF, and other CLE seminars, as immigration court liaison for the New England chapter, and on the board of directors for the Massachusetts chapter of the National Lawyers’ Guild.

Jodi Goodwin is in private practice in Harlingen, Texas on the U.S.-Mexican border. She focuses on removal defense, complicated waiver, family, and naturalization cases, and federal litigation. Ms. Goodwin has been practicing immigration law since 1995 and has been in private practice since 1996. She was the recipient of the Arthur C. Helton Human Rights Award in 2007. In her spare time, she enjoys spending as much time as possible with her two daughters, Helen and Carolyn.

Steven A. Morley is a partner at the law firm of Morley, Surin & Griffin in Philadelphia where he practices all aspects of immigration law. He has served as chair of AILA’s Philadelphia chapter as well as chair of the criminal justice section of the Philadelphia Bar Association. Mr. Morley is a frequent lecturer on immigration law, regularly appears before the Third Circuit, and has successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in Mitchell v. U.S., a decision extending the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent to sentencing proceedings. Mr. Morley is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Robert Pauw, a member of the Board of Trustees of AILF, is a partner in the Seattle law firm of Gibbs Houston Pauw and teaches immigration law at Seattle University School of Law. He specializes in immigration-related litigation, and has been counsel for plaintiffs in several significant immigration cases, including Ruiz-Diaz v. United States, Case No. 07-1881-RLS (W.D. Wash. June 11, 2009) (nationwide class action lawsuit challenging CIS policy of refusing to allow religious workers to file concurrent I-360/I-485 applications), Morales-Izquierdo v. Gonzales, 477 F.3d 691 (9th Cir. 2007) (en banc) (challenge to reinstatement), and Quezada-Bucio v. Ridge, 317 F. Supp. 2d 1221 (W.D. Wash. 2004) (challenge to mandatory detention). He is the author of Litigating Immigration Cases in Federal Court.

Rekha Sharma-Crawford received her JD in 1993 from DCL at Michigan State. She has been a District Attorney in Kansas and is licensed to practice law in the States of Kansas, Texas, and Michigan. She has been practicing in the immigration litigation field since 2000. Ms. Sharma-Crawford has been involved in cases in municipal, State, and Federal courts, the Circuit Courts of Appeals and even the United States Supreme Court. She has been successful in appeals before the Board of Immigration Appeals and in litigation against a Kansas County Sheriff who was detaining immigrants beyond his statutory authority.

Philip Smith, a partner in the law firm NELSON | SMITH, LLP in Portland, Oregon, is a member of the Tennessee and Oregon Bars, the U.S. District Court of Oregon, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. Philip previously served as the AILA Chapter Chair for Oregon. Philip received his law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to his legal career, Philip served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sri Lanka.

Erich C. Straub is an immigration attorney concentrating on family-based immigration and deportation defense. He presently serves as chair of the Wisconsin chapter of AILA and has served as a faculty member for AILF’s Litigation Institute. Mr. Straub is listed in the 2006–09 editions of Best Lawyers in America in the area of immigration law.

Nadine Wettstein, Director of AILF’s Legal Action Center, conducts immigration impact litigation; writes amicus curiae briefs to federal and administrative courts; develops, directs, and teaches at the Litigation Institute; participates in legal education programs; writes and distributes practice advisories on a wide variety of topics; and, through the litigation clearinghouse, publicizes information about immigrants’ rights litigation and work across the country. Ms. Wettstein has litigated and argued cases at the BIA and in numerous federal courts including the U.S. Supreme Court.